08/03/2012

Is Prince Charles really chasing a chubby girl with bubbles?

How tweet is this? Prince Charles, playing the part of leering royal looney, chasing a clearly frightened little girl who was just trying to enjoy her bubbles.

The photo became a very hot item on Twitter on Friday morning, zipping across the net universe faster than one of Kate Middleton's pregnancy rumours.

"This photo ... is KILLING ME," said one re-tweet."

"This is easiest the best pic of Prince Charles ever," wrote another.

"For real, or ... Hilarious anyway," said another, who was asking the right question.

The answer, of course, is that it is a fake, a clever photoshop job matching a 2009 picture of the little girl with a picture taken of the heir to the throne from July this year at a youth rally in Guernsey.

Here's that picture:

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall run under a parachute during a youth rally at Saumarez Park on July 19, 2012 in Guernsey. Little did the prince the photo would be manipulated to produce more laughs than he usually gets.

First clue to the fake is Charles himself. Notice that his hair is parted on the wrong side, as is the location of his hanky pocket. Obviously, a flop job, but necessary to the joke.

As for the little girl, this is not the first time she has been used for a photoshopped joke. According to Know Your Meme, the original image of the "chubby bubbles girl" running across the lawn (right) was posted in 2009. Someone close-cropped her, and all of a sudden there were multiple images of her being chased by everyone from a cop, to geese, to a dinosaur from Jurassic Park. Here's a gallery of someone's favourites.

Will Charles find this all amusing? Why not?

How far can this pranksterism go? And will people be able to spot real from fake? While we're pondering that question, is that Kate we spy playing field hockey?

Just kidding.

Posted by at 12:14:55 PM

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

oh leave him hes just tryin to be one of the kids gooffing around playing a good ol game of tag just like he would of done to his kids or even when he was one

Royals on Twitter

Royals on Facebook

Related Links

Legal Notice

TheStar.com
Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Toronto Star or www.thestar.com. The Star is not responsible for the content or views expressed on external sites.
Distribution, transmission or republication of any material is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. For information please contact us using our webmaster form. www.thestar.com online since 1996.